Stellar amp choice - S300 or M700

I hate when that happens. Which is far too often these days.

Oh man. Did fed ex come? Like waiting for Santa. Can’t wait for Dec.

Their tracking shows as of early AM it was in the little town just north of where I live. And it’s going to take 4 more days to get here? Criminy.

It obviously wouldn’t go well, but when the tracking says “out for delivery,” I’ve come so damn close to driving around the neighborhood to track down the FedEx truck and ask if I can have my box. Even to have it a few hours early would be worth it…

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They actually arrived today, James. I had them redirected to a FedEx office a few blocks from home since they were going to require a signature. They showed up about mid-day, and I had to suffer through the rest of the workday before I could pick them up.

Now begins the tear-down of the system. Wish I could stay home tomorrow. :wink:

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It took a little time to get these into the system. I finally did it this morning between office Team meetings. No one could see that I’d gotten a little sweaty. One of the perks of working from the listening room at home.

I started them on a 7-day-long playlist about mid-day, so they’ve been working about 8 hours so far - nothing close to the 200 or so everyone mentions as a benchmark, and I hadn’t even turned up the volume until just now, and while the current album is only piano, it’s about the most glorious piano I’ve heard from my system:

I expect some great things over the next week or so.

For those interested, associated equipment is:

VPI Scout with Ortofon 2M Bronze
Channel Islands Audio PEQ1 Mk II phono preamp w AC15 Mk II upgraded power supply
Blue sound Node 2i
Marantz SA8005 SACD player
Rega Planet CD (used as transport into SGCD)
PSA SGCD
Magnepan .7s
Hsu Research VTF 2 Mk II sub
Power from PSA P500

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And they’re doing a fantastic job with this live recording of the Kreutzer by Argerich and Perlman.

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And they are just getting started! I was skeptical about break in but what a difference a couple of weeks made.

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I am thinking of getting a bluesound to stream Tidal Would you mind commenting you how it sounds with your PS Audio gear?

I think it sounds great, as I expected it would from its NAD pedigree. Wonderfully detailed, tonally accurate, with great, solid imaging. How much is the Node 2i, how much is the PSA gear, how much is the Maggies, I don’t know, and that’s ok - all I care about is the sound of the whole. I would like to try it through the SGCD’s DAC, to see if it’s better than the Node’s, but that would eliminate the final “unfolding” of MQA files. That unfolding only happens through the Node’s DAC and analog outs. If you never listen to MQA, you can try it both ways and see which DAC is better. In short, though, I’m super happy with the sound of the Node 2i. The fact that it’s only $550 is just gravy.

I am thinking of running the 2i through my AVR analog inputs. Then out to the s300 amp. Gotta try me some MQA. I hear reviewers say the Stellar DAC is really good. So that would be a next step.

Wholly crap. Just now listening to Jerry Garcia on Zabriskie Point Soundtrack. Now I now what Everyone keeps banging on about headroom for. Startled the heck out of me.

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I just pulled the trigger on the m700’s. Tonight. Can’t wait.

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Congrats! You’re gonna love them.

Congratulation! For me, M700s are so good, I would never replace them unless I go back to pure class A or Tubes!

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Good choice.
Love my M700. Love even more after burn-in.
(I have my M700 about 2 yr ago. They sound very nice now.)

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Congrats Scott! You’re going to absolutely love them. As others have mentioned, after these puppies settle in, they perform much above their weight class!

I hope they can build them fast. I need some joy right now. Music is all there is right now.

It has certainly been the most consistent form of joy in my life. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Help. I have until Friday feb 5 to decide whether to keep or return the M700s. To my ear and in my setup and room, they sound nearly identical. Could it be my JBL 590’s are showing their limitations?

Sorry. I should have said that I currently have S300’s